Sport consumers’ attitudes towards relationship marketing – The case of Brynäs IF

Sammanfattning: Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the sport consumers´ attitudes towards relationship marketing. We want to investigate whether the consumers are relationship oriented or transaction oriented and whether different segments differ in their orientation. Method: A quantitative study was made and the data was collected using a likert scale questionnaire which consisted of statements to which the respondent answered to which degree he/she agreed or did not agree. The data collected was analyzed in SPSS using a bivariate correlations analysis and a factor analysis. Findings: Our findings shows that most sport consumers tend to be relationship oriented and have a positive attitude towards the different relationship activities that they can come in contact with during a hockey game. There are however sports consumers who tends to have a transaction orientation and in their decision process the price is the most important aspect. We also find evidence that there are both consumers with a passive relationship orientation and with an active relationship orientation. Contribution: Regarding practical implications sports organizations should be aware that they have customers of both kinds of orientation and therefore it is important to interact with the relationship oriented customers. They appreciate the interaction with the organization and this can be used by the organization in order to further develop their relationships with the customers. On the other hand the transaction oriented prefers not to be engaged into the same kind of interaction, for them the prices are more important so working with pricing strategies towards transaction oriented customers is what we would suggest. Regarding the theoretical contributions this study provides results regarding the consumers’ perspective and attitudes towards relationship marketing in Sweden which has been neglected in theories. We provide evidence within the limits of the study that a big part of sport consumers tend to be relationship oriented but also that there is a segment that rather tend to be transaction oriented. Future research: We suggest that future research could be conducted within this topic. Studies investigating the same topic in other geographical regions and in other sports are encouraged in order to further increase the generalizability. It would also be interesting to see a study that focuses on investigating if there are certain segments that can be detected that tend to be transaction oriented rather than relationship oriented. We also suggest studies being done on the topic of pricing and what kind of pricing strategies that would be beneficial for Swedish sports organizations.   Keywords: Relationship marketing, Customer relationship management, consumer attitudes, Service marketing.